Chapter 22
After the birthday party, Chen Yan thought that idiot would finally behave himself, but to his surprise, the other party seemed to become more and more determined after each setback.
As if they had figured out his toilet habits, Chen Yan would run into Zhao Luyu every time he climbed over the wall to go to the public toilet outside the school.
He pretended not to see it the first or second time, intending to ignore it. After all, Chen Yan had dealt with the other boys in his class who had crushes on him in the same way, and it had been very effective.
He thought that after a while, the other party would eventually give up, but Zhao Luyu didn't seem to be a normal person either.
This was the third time Chen Yan had seen him while climbing over the wall. He could no longer tolerate it and coldly stared at Zhao Luyu, who jumped down from the wall, his eyes indifferent: "What are you doing following me?"
Zhao Luyu looked embarrassed, his eyes clearly showing some guilt, but he still tried to argue, "How did you know I was following you?"
"..." Chen Yan was too lazy to deal with him and turned to leave, but Zhao Luyu was anxious: "Little sister, let's add each other on WeChat."
The word "younger sister" seemed like an untouchable sore spot, once again stirring up Chen Yan's guilt towards Xiang Wan.
One lie is often followed by countless others to cover it up. Xiang Wan can call him that, but if others call him "sister," he gets inexplicably irritated.
Chen Yan stopped abruptly and looked at Zhao Luyu, who had almost hit him. He pressed down on Zhao Luyu's shoulder and said, "Stay away from me."
His expression was gloomy, and his eyes were cold and indifferent. Only then did Zhao Luyu belatedly realize the other person's annoyance, and a faint sense of loss appeared in a corner of her heart: "Then I'll come to see you again next week, little sister."
"..."
Watching Zhao Luyu walk away, Chen Yan took a deep breath. He suddenly had a bad feeling; he felt that he might not be able to get rid of Zhao Luyu.
He shook his head, dismissing the thought, and strode off toward the public restroom.
After using the restroom, he went to the sink outside to wash his hands. Looking at himself in the mirror, Chen Yan paused in his handwashing motion.
The water from the faucet flowed out eagerly, but his expression seemed to be frozen, even the curve of his lips looked so stiff.
He turned off the tap, his right fingertips unconsciously moving towards his Adam's apple. His Adam's apple had started to protrude last month, and he was acutely aware that he could no longer hide it.
The feeling of hiding something is unpleasant, and Chen Yan even secretly hoped that Xiang Wan would discover his secret on her own.
The person in the mirror is dressed androgynously, with delicate features but narrow, elongated eyebrows and eyes, and skin as smooth as jade yet with sharp, defined angles. The childishness of his youth is gradually fading, and the handsome and refined features of a young man are gradually emerging.
The boy's well-defined knuckles pressed against the mirror, but his eyes held a hint of dejection.
How long can they keep this a secret?
If she finds out, will her current home still be open to him?
He glanced at his reflection in the glasses one last time, then turned and walked away without lingering...
*
The affiliated middle school will not have classes this afternoon. Students in grades 7 through 9 will have self-study sessions, while all students in grade 6 will walk to the nearby zoo for social practice.
Chen Yan and the others wouldn't get out of school for an hour longer, so Xiang Wan took a private car home first. Since he had texted her saying she didn't need to pick him up, she told her driver, Uncle Zhang, to go home directly.
Not long after Xiang Wan got home, it started raining heavily outside. She assumed he would take a taxi home by himself, so she wasn't too worried.
As dinner time approached, she sat at the table, drinking soup and waiting for Chen Yan. Finally, the doorbell rang, and the person who had been late appeared at the entrance of the hall.
He looked like he had rolled around in the rain, completely soaked, like a drowned rat.
Xiang Wan and Wang Yidong were both stunned for a moment when they saw him. Xiang Wan was the first to react and wrapped the bathrobe she was wearing over her shoulders around him.
"Xiaoyan, why didn't you take a taxi?"
Chen Yan's expression remained as obedient as ever: "We took a taxi to the villa area, and it suddenly started raining heavily not long after we got out of the car."
He lied again. In fact, he walked back, and since the heavy rain started, everyone around him was looking for shelter from the rain, but he was the only one walking in the rain without any cover or shelter.
As if in some kind of self-punishment, he left with composure. Despite the torrential rain, he seemed like a bamboo shoot emerging from the soil, breathing even more easily.
Xiang Wan didn't think much of it, and simply stood on tiptoe to wipe his hair. Looking at her 'little sister' obediently wiping her hair, she felt a little emotional.
When they first met, Chen Yan was a head shorter than her, but almost three years later, he is now even taller than her.
After Chen Yan dried his hair, Wang Yidong handed him a bowl of ginger soup, gesturing for him to drink it quickly.
After finishing the ginger soup, he went upstairs to do his homework, while Xiang Wan sat on the sofa watching the financial channel.
Not far away, Wang Yidong put coffee beans into the grinder, glanced upstairs, and looked at Xiang Wan with a hesitant expression.
"Miss, do you think Chen Yan might have had a crush on some boy and got dumped, so she's going to stand in the rain like the protagonists in romance novels?"
"puff--"
Xiang Wan choked on her tea and coughed several times. After a while, she looked up at the maid who had made the surprising remark, her eyes filled with amusement.
Wang Yidong was right by accident; they really did live in a romance novel, except they weren't the main characters.
Seeing her strong reaction, Wang Yidong was still a little stunned: "Did I just say something terrible?"
Xiang Wan's eyes flashed: "Who knows?"
"..."
Before going to bed, Xiang Wan took the hot milk to Chen Yan's room as usual, knocked twice but no one answered.
Usually, when she knocked the first time, the door would be opened from the inside. Thinking that Chen Yan was asleep, she didn't knock again, but instead quietly opened the door a crack.
The lights were on, and the test papers and books on the desk were all open. She glanced at Chen Yan, who was lying on the bed covered by the blanket, and noticed his unusually flushed cheeks, realizing something.
It's raining so hard today, he must have caught a chill from being caught in the rain.
Wang Yidong was still awake at this hour. Xiang Wan placed the milk on the desk next to her and sent her a text message asking her to bring some cold medicine upstairs.
While waiting, Xiang Wan casually gathered up the test papers on her desk. There were many test papers, and they were quite varied. She stacked them up and put them into her schoolbag, but one of the notebooks fell out halfway through.
The cover was ordinary; she assumed it was Chen Yanji's notebook, so she casually glanced at it. But after just a few glances at the randomly opened page, Xiang Wan's gaze gradually turned cold.
-
Wednesday, March 17
I forgot to lock the door when I was taking a shower, and she saw me, but she seems to have misunderstood.
How much longer can I keep this a secret? It's so painful.
-
March 20th, Sunny
The doctor said my mother-in-law is doing very well. The imported medicine is so expensive; without her, she definitely wouldn't have made it. How can I repay her?
But for my own selfish reasons, I lied to her. I really want to be honest with her and tell her that I am a boy.
I lied to you, I'm sorry, Xiang Wan.
-
3.23
The sports meet is coming up soon, will Xiang Guan participate?
…
Chen Yan's daily diary entries were very brief, but after two whole years, they formed a thick volume, which made Xiang Wan's wrists tremble slightly as she read them.
She hated the feeling of being deceived, and Zhou Chengze's betrayal in her previous life made her especially resistant to deception.
She originally thought that her decision to sponsor Chen Yan was the beginning of changing her destiny, but little did she know that she had just escaped one danger only to fall into another.
In this life, Chen Yan, whom she had sponsored, also deceived her.
Xiang Wan didn't care at all whether the recipient of the aid was male or female, and she didn't want to know why Chen Yan lied to her. The one thing she was certain of was that he had lied to her as well.
Just like Zhou Chengze.
Xiang Wan kept her head down, her expression unreadable, and sat at her desk for a long time without saying a word.
She didn't look at it anymore, but closed the diary and put it into his schoolbag along with the other test papers.
Just as I finished zipping up my backpack, Wang Yidong arrived, carrying warm water and cold medicine. Her expression was knowing: "Chen Yan caught a cold from being in the rain, didn't she?"
Xiang Wan glanced at Chen Yan, who was still unconscious on the bed, and said with a cold expression, "Tell Xia Yueshen to take his temperature."
Wang Yidong was somewhat surprised, as Xiang Wan had always been personally involved in Chen Yan's affairs: "Miss, aren't you going to take his temperature?"
Xiang Wan downplayed the issue somewhat: "The doctor's measurements were quite accurate."
"Okay, I'll go and call Dr. Xia up."
"Um."
Back in her room, Xiang Wan lay back on her pillow, her feelings a mix of emotions. Looking at the white ceiling, her heart, like the white ceiling itself, felt pale and lost.
She didn't turn on the lights, only a desk lamp was on. After what had happened, she had thought she wouldn't be able to sleep at all, but in the dim light, she gradually became sleepy.
Unable to distinguish whether it was a dream or her imagination, a white light suddenly appeared, and when she came to her senses, she found herself in an unfamiliar hospital room.
An elderly woman with white hair was lying on a hospital bed, surrounded by a group of people who appeared to be her descendants.
A group of people were surrounding the old woman on the bed, as if they couldn't see her appear out of nowhere.
Xiang Wan raised an eyebrow, still wondering what kind of dream she was having. Just as she was about to leave, she saw the old woman on the hospital bed staring straight at her.
"..."
It's hard to describe what kind of look it was; it was like a beam of light suddenly shining in murky, lifeless eyes.
Xiang Wan felt somewhat confused. She was certain that she didn't know the old woman, nor did she recognize the group of people surrounding her.
It wasn't until her gaze swept over the business card in front of the old woman's bed that she understood where the sense of familiarity she felt about the other person came from.
[Patient: Wang Yidong.]
The person who spoke yesterday suddenly turned into an old woman; anyone would be stunned for a while.
The old woman suddenly called out to her adopted daughter, who was peeling a banana for her, and gestured for them to go out first: "I want to be alone for a while."
"Mom..." The adopted daughter wanted to persuade her again, but the old woman's attitude was firm. "Shuhan, please let me be alone for a while."
"Oh well."
Upon hearing the name Shu Han, Xiang Wan showed no reaction, but a hint of surprise flashed in her eyes.
When only the two of them were left in the ward, the old woman, ignoring the IV needle still in her hand, struggled to get up.
Xiang Wan noticed her unusual behavior and, combined with her earlier actions, guessed that only she could see her.
She walked to the bedside in a few steps, her head still a little dazed, but the old woman on the bed grabbed her hand and pulled her closer.
As if wanting to see more clearly, or as if wanting to confirm something, the old woman looked very carefully until she was sure she hadn't seen wrong, and a string of tears slid down from the corners of her wrinkled eyes.
"Young lady, it's you who have come to take me to heaven."
"..." Xiang Wan's brow twitched, guessing that Wang Yidong must have misunderstood something.
In her memory, it was just a dream, but everything here felt so real that she couldn't help but have another guess.
"Wang Yidong, how many years has it been since I passed away?"
"It has been 49 years since the eldest daughter passed away."
…
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